Guilty
by absolutelynoapologies
Summary: After the murder of Hiruzen Sarutobi, three of Konoha’s citizens’ lives are in the balance after witnessing said murder. The investigators struggle to provide evidence as the worlds of Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, and Naruto Uzumaki shatter. AU
1. Chapter 1: Noises and Blood

_A/N: Yay for my first story on here! It's not the best…but I hope you all like it! (:_

_And yes, I understand Sasuke's OOC cause he talks too much…but he's still the heartless bastard we all know and love._

_(Story rated M for violence, language, and slight gore.)_

_The pairings to be shown are as follows: SasuSaku, NaruHina, ShikaTema, NejiTen, KibaIno. Though this story is not full of romance, there are underlying hints of those couples. (:_

**Guilty**

_**Chapter One**_

Noises and Blood

A petite, pinkette woman stood outside the bright club. She pulled her grey and pink plaid trench coat tighter to her body as her eyes scanned the area wildly. "Scared?" A man beside her suddenly snorted, almost unseen in the night.

"Fuck off Sasuke," She hissed back, "I'm just irritated at Naruto. That man can never make it on time for the life of him!" The tall dark-haired male sighed, drooping his arm over her shoulders easily.

"It's Naruto – he can take care of himself. Besides, he might've stopped for ramen on the way here." His deep voice offered, trying to ease the woman beside him.

She gave a hollow laugh before resting against his frame. "That would be Naruto alright…either that or Hinata stopped over. We all know how in love he is with her."

"SAKURA-CHAN! SASUKE-TEME!" A loud voice shrieked followed by heavy footsteps until a blonde male was in view, stopping before them. He flashed them a wild grin before a dreamy look overcame his features.

"Aha! So it WAS Hinata! Pay up Sasuke." Sakura smirked only to have the man raise a dark eyebrow. "Since when was it a bet?" He muttered before reluctantly giving her a random amount of money from his pocket. She giggled and stood on her toes to give him a kiss on the cheek, as she was still short in her heels.

"Ne, what are you guys talking about?!" Naruto whined loudly, finally snapping out of his thoughts. Sakura's head snapped to him with a ghost of a smile playing on her lips.

"Nothing, nothing!" Sakura smiled innocently before grabbing her lover's hand, dragging him into the club as Naruto was frozen behind them.

"Baka," Sasuke shook his head before Sakura sighed, turning back around to Naruto.

"Naruto! Come on! I promise you ramen later!" She called out, surprised when he didn't budge. She let go of Sasuke's hand, walking back outside – wide-eyed – to Naruto. "Naruto?" She asked softly, green eyes staring at him incredulously.

"I hear something…" He mumbled, breaking the spell he had on Sakura.

"Oh come _on_ Naruto! It's late and we're in Konoha for Kami's sake! There's drunks everywhere, as well as robbers. _Deal with it_." She hissed impatiently, tugging his arm. He yanked it away, causing her to nearly tumble to her feet if Sasuke didn't catch her.

"Naruto" Sasuke's voice held a sharp, warning tone that the normally bubbly blonde didn't heed at the moment.

"Teme, do you hear that?" He asked softly, causing Sakura to huff that he didn't seem to care about her. Sasuke stiffened before faintly nodding and pulling out the gun in the well-hidden holster.

"What _is_ that?!" Sakura looked around in search for the source of the terrible noise that just grew enough for her ears to hear. It was a mixture of a grunt and a moan, like someone was being abused…but it was so much more than that. The pinkette knew what the unexplainable sound was…she wasn't a doctor for nothing, after all.

"Someone's dying…and we're just standing here." Naruto stated the obvious as Sasuke – the ever-so-calm police officer – was already moving towards the source with his gun leading the way.

"Come on," Sakura whispered, linking her arm with Naruto's – in his protest, of course, as he knew his best friend would have his head mounted on the wall if something happened to his precious fiancé – and she stopped a short distance behind Sasuke.

"N-No…" A groggy voice moaned and after they saw a shadow hit the floor, the body trembled with a vicious cough.

"Hai, old man. Your time has come." A quick voice answered before pointing a hand gun and the sound of the gun being fired echoed throughout the alley. Footsteps faded away as Sasuke cautiously walked into the dark alley only to freeze.

"Teme?" Naruto asked in a whisper – a feat for someone as loud as him – before following his friend in, making sure Sakura was behind him.

"Oh kami…" Sasuke muttered before taking out his cell phone. Naruto's eyes widened, his bottom lip quivering. Sakura sniffled, wiping away the tears forming in the corners of her eyes with the sleeve of her trench coat.

There, lying in a pool of his own blood, was Hiruzen Sarutobi. Naruto fell to his knees and Sakura hugged his side in comfort. "We _need_ to find out who that bastard was. Anyone who killed the man that was like a father to me needs to _die_." He snarled out, his body trembling with rage.

Sasuke pulled Sakura up without a single word as stood there – silent – as she clutched onto him, tears pouring down her face…much like Naruto. But Naruto still crouched to the ground, hatred and rage consuming his thoughts.

They said nothing as the ambulance and police soon swarmed the scene, everyone mourning the great loss. The loss of the major…and the loss of a wonderful person. Hiruzen's son, Asuma, could do nothing as he leaned against his squad car, watching his father's body being carried away. In the time being there, he smoked his way through three packs of cigarettes.

_**Meh, I know I could do better on this chapter but I don't have the energy to.**_

_**I hope this seems interesting enough for you all…(:**_


	2. Chapter 2: Akatsuki

_A/N: Second chapter, FINALLY. Sorry for the uuuuber long wait guys!_

**Guilty**

_**Chapter Two**_

Akatsuki

"This _has_ to be the work of the Akatsuki." Asuma finally uttered, crushing yet another cigarette under his boot.

"That is quite a possibility, Asuma-sama." One of the investigators crushed his own cigarette on the ground as well. He proudly studied under the chief when he was a rookie, picking up that smoking habit. "Their signature is all over…him." He didn't dare say it, as he was afraid as to how his mentor would react.

His mind raced with why the Akatsuki would murder the mayor. Sure, the Akatsuki were the biggest crime syndicate in the town – as well as the slyest, _all_ of the members are still unknown, all the police had was suspected members – and it was obvious that they would want the major dead. The only thing was that it looked as if only one person killed him. Normally, the Akatsuki worked in pairs. They strived themselves with perfection, and partners were picked to fill in the other's weaknesses.

"I need to see my father, Shikamaru." Asuma demanded, already starting to push his way towards the body. Shocked, Shikamaru grabbed his arm and forced him to a halt.

"Asuma-sama, it wouldn't be wise to have this memory of your father in your head. Wait until he's cleaned up by Orochimaru." Shikamaru tried to reason with him. With a loud sigh, Asuma let his arm go limp in Shikamaru's grip, clearly not pleased that his father would be in the hands of the mortician. Orochimaru was rather a…freak with bodies.

"Hai" He stuck his hands in his pockets, turning back around to his police car. Shikamaru saw a tear fall to the concrete, leaving a dark mark there. _'Asuma-sensei…'_ He thought sadly, turning back to the remainder of the crime scene.

"But- ne- _Sasuke-kun_-" The brunette policewoman whined, attempting to ask the Uchiha questions. She grabbed his arm, trying to press herself against him. "Naoi, touch him again and I promise I will kill you slowly and painfully without you ever knowing."

Sakura's voice was icier than the arctic, her glare was cold and definitely rivaled Sasuke's glare. Naoi visibly stiffened and let go. "Hai, gomen Sakura-san!" She chirped fearfully, nearly running off to her police car.

Naruto punched the wall next to him in his anger, watching as Orochimaru and Kabuto gave Hiruzen an initial glance-over and was putting his body in a body bag. Shikamaru's partner and Naruto's long-time friend, Kiba, was comforting Naruto whilst asking him questions.

"Kiba, I just freaking told you, _I don't know anything about the killer!_" Naruto whimpered, eyes downcast. His mentor, the only one who really cared for him when he was young…was simply _gone_ and, in all honesty, it hurt like hell.

"Hey, Naruto, I know. I'm just doing my job, eliminating all the possibilities. You should know that this is what has to be done." While Kiba did try to comfort him, he never said the right things. Normally, Naruto would make a snide comment about Kiba's lack-of-sympathy but his friend's familiar behavior could only make him smile.

"Naruto," The blonde shuddered at the icy voice, turning to see an ominous figure standing tall behind him. The man had his fists in his pockets – constantly clenching and unclenching. Sasuke's brows furrowed. For as long as he's known this man, he has _never_ shown his true emotions on the job.

"Ibiki," Naruto replied carefully, hoping not to further ignite Ibiki's anger. Sakura merely observed everything about him – posture, expression, the scar marring his otherwise handsome face, and every single twitch his body made – as she stood quietly off to the side, her fingers flying across the keyboard of her cell phone that she hardly glanced at.

"We need all three of you down at the station for questioning. This is the murder of the mayor; Inuzuka interrogating you is hardly substantial." He gulped, knowing very well _who_ would be conducting the interrogations. Kiba narrowed his eyes.

"If you're going to lie to us, Sir, you're going to have to do a better job." The three boys whipped their heads to Sakura, who had a single eyebrow raised and expression serious. They looked back and forth between the pinkette and the threatening interrogator before them as they were in an intense staring match.

"It's nice to know that you're not all idiots." He muttered briskly before turning on his heel and walking off towards the mass of policemen. Sakura smirked.

"Seriously, you guys couldn't tell?" She chuckled, shaking her head. Kiba's brows furrowed as he took a step closer to her.

"How the _hell_ could you tell? The guy was intimidating, I wasn't watching his _expressions_!" He shot, using wild hand gestures to emphasize.

"It wasn't his expression, dumbass. Expressions can be altered at a moment's notice if you know how to do it. Expressions are misleading. It's the subtle details: their stance, their posture, where they look, etcetera." Sakura snorted, putting a fisted hand on her hips.

From the ambulance, a silver-haired man pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and walked over to their group, making sure that his footsteps could be heard so they would notice his appearance. When he arrived next to them, he pushed his glasses up again – for the umpteenth time – with his chauvinistic grin. "Doctor Haruno?" Sakura looked at him with mild irritation.

"Hai?" He quickly glanced around to the group, making mental identifications.

"There is a woman named Shizune looking for you in the ambulance." Sakura bolted off as soon as he uttered the last word, her heels clicking against the uneven concrete so hard she swore it would break off a heel any second.

Once she saw Shizune lying in the gurney, she went into professional mode. She turned to the gurney-side nurse, but Shizune just shooed the woman away, causing Sakura to frown. "Shizune-"

"Sakura! Nice to see you." She smiled, knowing that it would annoy Sakura.

"Shizune-"

"I think we've already covered this." Sakura gave an exasperated sigh, sitting down where the nurse had been. She kept quiet, resulting to an icy glare at Shizune who laughed. "Sakura, what happened to me is not important. Nothing's broken, I'm alive, so breathe. But I do have to warn you of something." Sakura went stiff, her hands tightening on her tweed sleeve. "My patient, Gaara, hasn't been to therapy in weeks. I've called his sister, Temari, and she freaked out, and I even had Ibiki question her…but she knows nothing."

Sakura let out the breath she was holding. "So? He's just a patient. Besides, isn't he on house arrest? The police-"

"No, Sakura, you're thinking of the wrong person. Gaara is the one who was convicted of attempted murder. He's supposed to be on parole and seeing me every Thursday and Friday for therapy, but like I said, he's missing. And he might have something to do with this case." Sakura's face went pale, all the color bleached from her skin.

"That Gaara…the one who attempted to kill Mayor Sarutobi five years ago?" Sakura's voice was shaky and uneven, and she paused every so often to force out her words. Shizune merely nodded solemnly.

"Oh shit,"

Her crooked smile was still plastered on her face, her disheveled purple hair blocking her eyes so he couldn't see the malicious intent, but he could _feel_ it.

"What the _fuck_ are you talking about, woman?" He spat, his right hand's grip tightening on the arm of the dingy metal chair in anger. She let out an unattractive snort.

"You know _exactly_ what the fuck I'm talking about, Zetsu. Your little organization killed the mayor. I don't think you understand the punishment you all will face." Her voice trailed off, a sardonic smirk replacing her grin from before. "I mean, the Akatsuki has committed various crimes and multiple homicides, so prosecuting you all will be so much fun."

The man – whose right side was considerably darker than his left – kept his face blank, except for a perfect replica of her smirk on his face.

"You don't know anything, you dumb bitch." His dark tone began to fade, with a lighter voice replacing it. "What can you prove? I didn't commit any crimes. I'm not a part of the Akatsuki, though I'm positively _flattered_ that you think I'm capable of such things." His voice might have been light, but his sarcastic, berating edge was still there.

Anko frowned. He was right – they had no evidence against them. Only Asuma's gut feeling. _'Fuck, this is going to be a long night.'_

_**Holy shit, I updated! I am truly sorry about the wait, but I hope you enjoyed the chapter! (:**_

_**I had the first page just sitting on my hard drive for months…and only now did I decide to add on some things :p**_


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